


Now that we are not playing any games

by idanceinmykitchen



Series: Elite after season 3 [2]
Category: Elite (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:35:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23493319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idanceinmykitchen/pseuds/idanceinmykitchen
Summary: It's been a year since they last saw each other. Carla is doing and internship in London and Samuel is going there with his friends to celebrate the end of high school. The only thing they know is they are gonna see each other again, but will they be able to build a relationship when there are no games between them?
Relationships: Samuel García Domínguez/Carla Rosón Caleruega
Series: Elite after season 3 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1681222
Comments: 46
Kudos: 131





	1. Prologue: Why won't you come to London?

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! This is part of my Elite after season 3 series, but can be read as a stand alone, so don't worry if you haven't read that one (although I'd greatly appreciate it if you did).   
> I really needed to write about Samu and Carla, they were my favourite thing in season 2 and I actually didn't hate what happened to them this season, but I need to know what happens again and I can't really wait a year or two, so I've written what I'd love to happen after season 3. Hope you like it.

Samuel took a sip from his beer. It was bitter and cold, nothing fancy, just like he liked it. The fact that classes were over and that he had his best friends sitting in the sofa by his side in his living room while playing video games just added to the feeling of tranquility and peace, it felt right, everything about that afternoon was perfect, everything but the conversation. 

“Come on, Samu, London is a great idea”.

He took his frustration out with Omar and scored a goal on Fifa.

“Dude, no need to be bitter” Complained his friend.

“Why won’t you change the subject? I’m fine, you can all just go to London, I’ll stay here.”

Samu could see Guzmán’s frustrated look. 

“Okay, you were 100% on board with the plan a week ago. We have the plane tickets and the AirBnB. What’s changed?”

Samuel avoided his friend’s eyes, focusing on the screen. “Nothing, I just don’t feel like it, plus I have to save up for Uni next fall”.

“That’s bullshit, you already have a scholarship and the rent on the apartment is not that high, you’ve managed working to pay for it and classes all through this year.”

“Guzmán, leave him alone, if he doesn’t want to go, then he doesn’t want to go and, if he doesn’t wanna tell us why, then he doesn’t want to tell us. Although, this is a pretty bad excuse, Samu”

“Thanks Ander”

The boy smiled at him from the other side of the sofa, he liked Ander, their relationship wasn’t as close as it was with Omar or Guzmán, but they liked and respected each other, they both understood that they were very important pillars to people they loved, plus, they were both nice and Samuel genuinely enjoyed spending time with the boy.

They just played in silence for a minute until Guzmán shoved his phone in front of him.

“Please, tell me she’s not the reason why you won’t come to London, Samuel, please, tell me you’re not throwing away our plans because of a girl.”

Omar paused the game.

“Dude, what are you doing? I was winning!”

“What girl?” Asked Omar, confused. “I thought things between you and Rebeca had settled.”

Samuel avoided his best friend’s eyes. “They have”.

“Then who?” Ander joined in with a curious look in his eyes.

“Carla”. Samuel admitted, let’s be honest, why avoid the subject, Guzmán had figured it out anyway.

“Carla?” Omar was surprised, “I thought she was living in Paris”.

“She was…” A sigh escaped Samuel, he leaned back and ran his hands through his hair, exasperated. “She is doing an internship in London this summer.”

“And you found out last week and that’s why you don’t want to go anymore?” Sid Ander, putting two and two together.

“It’s a little bit more complicated.” Samuel finished his beer and stood up.

“Hey, where are you going?” Guzmán looked somewhere between mad and worried, “I thought we were gonna have this conversation, Samu, you’ve been avoiding it since Carla left.”

“I know, I’m just gonna get another beer, can I do that?”

“Only if you bring me another one too” replied Guzmán showing him his empty bottle.

“You got it” Samuel smiled and turned around.

“Grab some chips too! We've already finished these ones!” He heard Omar’s request from the kitchen and smiled. Sure, how could they eat so much? He roamed through the coverts as he tried to figure out what he was gonna tell the boys. He hadn’t talked to Carla since last year, when she’d told him she was leaving and that he could visit if he wanted to, he had wanted to, but… It was complicated, he didn’t understand it himself.

When he came back in he had a bag of chips under his arm and four cold beers, Omar and Ander were about to finish theirs and he didn’t want to get up again. He placed everything on the coffee table and sat down between Guzmán and Omar.

“So, Carla” Said Guzmán.

“Carla…” Replied Samu, he hadn’t said her name out loud for so long, it felt weird and something awakened inside of him, it was warm and fuzzy and it spread through his veins like wildfire. Feelings. He still had feelings. Shit.

“What’s wrong? What happened between you and her?”

Samu looked at Omar, where to begin? The beginning? Where was the beginning? When they first hooked up or when he realized he loved her, or when she showed up wanting macaroni, or when she told him he never had him, when she slapped him, when she said she was leaving? When did this whole mess begin?

“I’m not sure, I’m not sure because I don’t know what was real and what was just us trying to manipulate each other.”

“What do you mean?” Asked Ander, really curious, Samu didn’t know how much the other boy knew of what had happened. So he decided to start at the beginning, the real beginning.

“At the beginning of the school year, last year, I wanted to get my brother out of jail and I had this feeling that Carla knew more about what had happened “, Samu chuckled, if he had known how much it would hurt he wasn’t sure he would have gone through it, “I don't know… I just decided I’d hook up with her to find out what she knew”.

“Yeah, I bet it was a huge sacrifice on your part.” Samuel laughed quietly.

“Shut up, Omar” said Ander, though he was smiling as well, “what happened next?”

“We fell in love. I think. And we really hurt each other, knowingly. We did things, a bunch of things that we knew would hurt the other and we did it all to protect other people, which I guess is healthy that we didn’t make the other the centre of our universe, but… We played games with each other. She was making sure I wouldn’t say anything and I was trying to make her confess. We played with each other and… God I loved her so much, I still do, but I don’t know how she feels, not really.”

“Why?” Samu looked at Guzmán, confused.

“Why what?”

“Why do you love her?”

“She… She gets it. She gets me, I don’t think she blames me for what I did, for what I made her do, she understands why I did it, the same way I understand why she did it. She’s actually funny and sweet, and she teases me like no one else does, and she’s honest and fiercely loyal and the fact that she is so cold with everyone except for when we are together makes me feel special. Some times, when we allowed ourselves to be just us, there was this electricity in the air… I don’t know how else to put it. I also love that she is super complicated, like a puzzle that I have to solve.”

“Wow, dude, you have it bad” Guzmán was laughing at him, but he put an arm around Samuel.

“I know” replied the other guy sighing into his friend’s shoulder.

“So, you love her and she seems to feel the same way about you, what’s the problem here? Come to London and talk to her.” Omar was confused, Samu couldn’t blame him, he’d be as well.

“I… I’m not really sure I know how to be with her when things are simple and uncomplicated. There have always been double meanings on everything we’ve said, do I even know how to talk to her without having to pretend? Without having to play a game? Also, I have no idea what happened last year, with Yeray and everything, maybe... I don't know”

“You won’t know until you ask, how did you two leave things?”

“I don’t know, Omar, she told me I could come and visit her in Paris, but… I haven’t. And it’s been a whole year, how would you explain that to her?”

“Has she texted you at all?”

“No”

“Then she has some explaining to do as well. Text her. Now. Since when do you run from life, Samu?”

Samuel looked at his oldest friend. “I don’t run from life.”

“I know, I’ve known you since for ever. What are you doing now?”

Samuel groaned and pulled out his phone.

“I’m gonna text her.”

The other guys cheered and toasted. He just shook his head and open his chat with Carla. What now? 

“What should I say?”

“That you’re going to London tomorrow and want to see her.” Said Ander.

“Should I just type it like that? Carla, I’ll be in London tomorrow, I want to see you?”

“Yeah, why not? Go straight to the point.”

Samu looked at Omar, the boy was more level headed that Guzmán, and Ander didn’t know too much about his relationship with Carla.

“Yeah, I think it’s a good idea. Once you text that, you better start packing. We are leaving tomorrow super early.”

Samuel hit send and threw his phone at Guzmán.

“Hey, what did you do that for?”

“I can’t look at it. Tell me if she replies, or don’t. I don’t know, I’m gonna start packing. Are we really leaving that early?”

“4am. The plane leaves at 6. Why?” Replied Omar.

“Rebeca is always super cranky in the morning.”

They all laughed and Samuel went to his room leaving the door open so he could hear his friends talk in the living room. Sometimes, having a tiny apartment was an asset. He opened his closet and just stared at it. What should he wear? It was July, but it also was London. The first thing he took out was his raincoat. Then he packed his underwear and then stopped. What else? What could he wear? They were gonna go out almost every night, that was for sure, but, then what? He couldn’t really picture Guzmán doing tourism and going to the Big Ben. 

“Samuel! Samuel! Samuel!”

He heard his friends shouting and laughing from the living room and came running.

“What’s going on?”

“She answered!”

“What did she say? I can’t read it.”

They all laughed at him, he didn’t care. He was super nervous, his palms were sweating. He had never been nervous around Carla, what was going on?  
“Okay, let me”. Guzmán pulled the phone from Omar’s hands and dramatically cleared his throat “Samuel, It’s so good to hear from you. I have to work all day tomorrow, but, if you’re up to it, you could come over at around 9pm, we could eat macaroni. Why does she want macaroni, Samuel?”

“Is it code for your…?” Ander looked down to Samuel’s groin.

“No, No! Guys you’re such perverts! Give me my phone back!”

When Samuel went to bed that night, his suitcase all packed and ready to go, he stared at his phone read the text message again. He was gonna see Carla again, tomorrow. How did it take him so long to write that text? He felt stupid now, but it didn’t matter. Tomorrow. He had a date with Carla tomorrow.


	2. Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An then there was Carla. Okay, no, but seriously, Carla will be in this episode, I swear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really wanted to post this yesterday, but I finished writing it at midnight and didn't feel like posting it. So... I'm posting it now! I really hope that you'll enjoy it and thank you so much for all the love this is been getting, I didn't expect it to! So thank you all so much for the comments and the kudos and everything! Okay, I'll shut up now so that you can get to the chapter, cause, let's be honest, that's what you're here for.

“I still don’t know why you made me go back for a jacket, it’s hot as fuck.” Ander was frustrated.

Caye smiled at him and zipped it up. While Samuel and Guzmán laughed from the front seats of the car.

“You’ll thank me later, once we get there.”

Ander scoffed. They drove all the way to Rebeca’s place in a comfortable silence, the radio was on and Cayetana was humming the melody quietly. Samu thought they were lucky he wasn’t on the driver's seat because he found himself unable to keep his eyes open for more than 5 seconds. It was early and he hadn’t gone to bed until late that night.

The car stopped in front of Rebeca who opened the trunk and threw her suitcase there without much care.

“Nobody talk to me. I haven’t had time to drink my coffee, I bite.” She stated once she got in the car.

Samu raised his eyebrows at Ander throw the rear-view mirror. And Ander laughed quietly. Guzmán wasn’t so subtle, but turned the radio up so that they wouldn’t be tempted. No one wanted to anger Rebe, that was never a good idea.

Once they got to the airport Rebeca grabbed her suitcase and excused herself by saying they’d be able to find her at the nearest coffee shop. They all rolled their eyes but let her be.

“Are you really gonna leave the car here?” Samu looked at Guzmán confused, they’d be gone for at least a week, they only had one-way tickets and parking at the airport was expensive, plus, the car could be stolen or vandalized or who knew what else…

“Well, I don’t think anything will happen to it.”

Ander threw his arms around Caye and Samu “What I’d give sometimes to live the rich boy’s life”, he said sarcastically.

“They have problems, you know?” added Cayetana. “Sometimes it’s super hard choosing the color of the newest Maserati.”

“Well, daddy can always buy one of each, you know, so Mondays is black, Tuesdays is red, Wednesdays, yellow, Thursdays, green…”

Samuel laughed as they walked through the parking lot.

“Shut up guys, you laugh all you want, but you live the life without spending the money”. Guzmán defended himself.

“Yeah, it’s called being smart.” Replied Samu.

Guzmán tackled him and Samu pretended to resist. Finally Guzmán threw an arm around him. “You’re very short, you know?”

“Yeah, I’m aware, thank you.”

“God, this makes me so happy, I haven’t been this happy since Marina. We are going to have an amazing adventure, you know?”

They all looked at Guzmán, he sometimes got inspired and started talking about friendship and love and the future in a way that made Samuel a little uncomfortable, but he appreciated it, you always knew where things were with Guzmán, he made how he felt about people very clear for everyone. 

“Come on, we can’t leave Omar and his parents with Rebeca, she’ll murder them”. Ander tried to change the topic and the four of them looked at each other, smiled and began to run towards the departures side of the airport.

Omar was standing there with his parents, but Rebeca was nowhere to be seen. Samu sent her a quick text and went to say hello, the group with Guzmán, Ander, Omar and the Shana parents was, understandably, tense. So he stepped in to lighten up the mood, not that he felt comfortable doing so, or that he was any good at it, he found himself making the situation even worse by asking about Nadia so he decided to stay quiet and sighed with relief with the others when Omar’s parents decided it was time for them to leave.

“Sorry about that” said Omar once his parents had left.

“It’s actually kind of cute.” Cayetana smiled honestly.

“You’re too pure for this world, you know that?” Asked Omar, kissing her. 

“I don’t know what to say, she is an amazing schemer.” Cayetana pretended to punch Guzmán and they all laughed.

“Where’s our narco barbie?” They all looked around and Samuel checked his phone, but she hadn’t replied. None of them knew how to answer Omar’s question.

“She went to get herself some caffeine, but I have no idea where she is.” Ander got closer to Omar and kissed him “Is everything okay?” He asked softly, Samuel, understanding it was a private moment left them alone and went to where Guzmán and Caye were standing, looking for Rebeca.

“If they are gonna be like this during all the trip I’ll lock them in their room and won’t let them out.” Guzmán was looking at the couple, who were talking to each other very close and couldn’t seem to stop touching, a hand, an arm…. 

“Come on, they have a couple of weeks away from their families for the first time in forever, leave them alone. And you know they hate PDA, give them a couple of minutes and they’ll go back to normal” Samuel defended his friends, Cayetana just looked sweetly at them.

“Everyone should be this lucky” She said after a moment, then turned around, “where the fuck is Rebeca?”

Just as she said those words, the other girl came in, balancing a tray with 6 coffees and her suitcase. 

“Rebeca, you are a saint.” Said Ander as she stopped in front of them.

“I wouldn’t go that far”. Said the girl laughing. “Hello, baby”, Rebeca handed the tray to Ander and hugged Omar. “How are you?”

“Extremely tired, thank you for the coffee.”

“You’re welcome”.

“What took you so long?” Asked Samuel sipping from his cup. The girl was a genius, she knew everybody’s orders and had written their names on the cups so that there wouldn’t be any confusion, she was a hurricane, but she took care of her friends and Samuel loved her for it. 

“Don’t complain, Samu, I had to drink my own coffee in peace first”. She replied very serious while going over to Ander and grabbing her own cup.

“So what are you drinking now?” Asked Cayetana.

“My second coffee and, maybe, after this one I’ll become a something resembling a human being again.”

“Or course you are”. Said Samuel hiding his quiet smile behind his coffee cup. They all laughed, but Rebeca pointed a perfectly manicured finger at him.  
“Don’t forget who taught you how to box”

“I could never do that.”

They didn’t speak much as they boarded the plane, it was way too early, an hour made to go to bed after a long night partying, not to board a plane, as Rebeca said.  
Samuel ended up sitting between the two girls on the plane.

“I’m glad the boys made you change your mind about coming”, said Cayetana once she had her seat belt on.

“Yeah, Samu, what happened?”

Samuel debated whether telling them or not, he didn’t like to go around laying his problems out on public, it felt weird, like going around naked, but the boys knew and it was strange enough that they hadn’t said anything to them yet, but he didn’t want to have that conversation, not yet anyway. And he knew that Rebe would want to make a big deal out of it and talk about feelings and force him to open up, so, even if he knew Rebe, out of everyone, deserved to know, he decided to tell them later.

“I’ll tell you once we arrive to the apartment.”

“Samuel…”

“Rebeca…” He said mimicking her tone.

“Okay, I’ll shut up. Have I told you what happened last Monday with my mom?”

Caye looked at her with bright eyes, expecting some weird story about her mom and the people who were always coming in and out of Rebe’s house, Samuel let them gossip glad that the previous conversation was over. 

He really liked Cayetana, and she was a perfect friend for Rebe, the girl loved helping people and Caye had needed a lot of help at the beginning of that year, a broken heart, the trauma of the whole debacle at Teatre Barceló, a very sick grandfather and balancing a job and university were not an easy scenario for an 18 year old. But Cayetana had also turned out to be fiercely loyal, even if it was to people Samuel didn’t like, and caring, she had known how to be there for Rebeca in ways he never could. She also could keep up with Rebeca at a party, which was not an easy task. That’s why he liked the girl, she made Rebe happy and he was very protective over Rebeca. He knew Caye cared about him too, in a quieter way than Rebeca, from the shadows and he appreciate it more than he knew how to put to words.

They arrived at the apartment, Rebeca and Guzmán insisted that they should pay for things fairly, so those who earned more, payed more, this is how they ended up in a duplex with a terrace and a swimming pool in the city centre. It was modern, big and spacious.

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to feel comfortable here.” said Samuel looking around him worriedly.

“I know what you mean” agreed Omar leaving his bag carefully on the floor. “I feel that this vase costs more than both, my parent’s apartment and the shop” he said pointing at a huge vase standing in a corner of the room.

“Who would want a vase this big anyway? or a swimming pool in London? you can only use it for two weeks.” asked Ander.

“Guys, stop complaining and choose a room before all the best ones are gone” said Guzmán from the top of the stairs.

They all looked at each other and sprinted to the top, looking for the best room. It turned out it didn’t matter, Rebeca and Cayetana had already claimed both of them, the master suite and a huge ass bedroom next to it, both rooms were connected by the bathroom.

Samuel ended up in the smallest room, twice the size of the one he had back in Spain, on the other side of the apartment, but he still could hear Rebe, Caye, Ander and Omar fighting over the master bedroom, the boys argued that since there were two of them they should have the bedroom, the girls said they had been faster. Samuel didn’t care.

“Are you nervous?”

Guzmán came in as he was unpacking handing him a cold beer. Samuel looked up at him and grabbed the bottle.

“No, I’m not. Where did you get these from?” He asked pointing at both beers. Guzmán sat on his bed while he continued unpacking.

“They were in the fridge, I send an email to the owners with a shopping list so that we wouldn’t have to worry about these kinds of things when we got in.”  
Samuel rolled his eyes, he wasn’t really used to the amount of money his friend had and how entitled it made him feel, but he was a good guy and he’d go to hell and back for him.

“So, you’re not nervous anymore,” continued Guzmán, “why?”

“No need to be, whatever needs to happen will happen.”

“Yesterday you were practically shaking”

“Yesterday I didn’t even know if she’d changed her number, today we have a date. There is nothing to be nervous about.”

Guzmán looked to the side.

“I’d be unable to sit still if I knew tonight I was gonna see Nadia.”

Samuel sat down by his side and hugged him close. They didn’t really talk about these things, but he knew Guzmán still thought about Nadia every single day.

“Dude, you know I’m here for anything you need, right?” He asked looking at his friend deep in the eyes, forehead against forehead.

“Yeah, it goes both ways.”

Someone knocked softly on the door, they moved away from each other and saw Rebe standing on the door, she had two beers on her hands.

“Am I interrupting? I can come later.”

“No, it’s fine, I was leaving anyway.”

Guzmán left ruffling Samuel’s hair and Rebeca took his place on the bed.

“I see he got to you first” she said nodding at Samuel’s beer.

“Yeah. How are you? We really haven’t had too much time to talk, are things with your mom alright?”

“They never are, Samu, I joke about it, but she won’t stop dealing and I want nothing to do with it so she tries to buy my acceptance with trips like this one and it just…”

“It doesn’t work” Samuel finished the sentence for his friend, putting an arm around her and letting her rest her head on his shoulder. “You know you have me here, right? Always.”

“I know, Samu, I know. Thank you.”

They sat in silence comfortably sipping cold beer and staring at the mural on the wall.

“This thing is way too modern for me, what is it supposed to represent?”

Rebeca looked at him with a weird look, “I have no fucking clue.” She paused and turned so she was facing him. “Will you tell me about your change of mind, now?”  
Samuel sighed. He had to tell her, he just didn’t know how to do it without hurting her. He really didn’t want to hurt her.

“I… Carla is spending her summer here. I didn’t know if I wanted to see her but not telling her we were in the same city felt like a lie and… I don’t know. I’m seeing her tonight.”

Rebeca was quiet for a while and Samuel saw the wheels on her head turning, thinking on what to say, which was weird, she was a very impulsive person.

“It doesn’t hurt. I was trying to figure out whether it hurt to know that, but it doesn’t. Samu, I know you’ve always loved her, even when we were together, I made my peace with it long ago.”

Samuel looked at her and knew she was being honest, she held his hand and was smiling.

“I’m sorry”, he said anyway. “I knew you really liked me and I… I’ve always loved you, you are more than my friend, you’re my family, I know it sounds like I’m a character from Fast and Furious, but it’s true. Last year… I thought that I could make myself fall in love with you, because, Rebe, I already loved you, I still do, but it didn’t work and I ended up playing with your feelings and I was a shitty boyfriend and a shitty friend."

“Samu, I know all that, we’ve already gone through all of this, it’s dead and buried.”

They smiled at each other.

“Come on, we need to go out exploring, I hate doing tourism, but I really want to get lost in this city”

“You go first, I’ll finish unpacking” He answered standing up and looking around the room. It was messy.

She was leaving but turned at the door to tell him one more thing, “she loved you all through last year too, Samuel, she told me herself.” Then she left and he stood smiling in the middle of the room like an idiot.

Carla was way more in her head than usual and her co workers had noticed. She was working as an intern at a publishing agency, more as an excuse to not go back home than anything else. She liked London, though, it was a busy city always moving, there was always somewhere to go, somewhere to be, someone to talk to. She didn’t feel as lonely there as she usually felt at home. That’s why Paris was a good city to study as well.

“Carla, darling, what’s wrong? Is it Lucas, has he done something? I’ll murder him if I have to.” Sarah, her boss, was only 4 years older than she was and tried really hard to make her feel at home, which she appreciated, but what Carla really wanted was to be left alone, today more than usual.

“I broke up with him yesterday”. Carla thought she’d feel bad, at least a little bit sad, Lucas had been her boyfriend for three months, and they’d been fucking way before that. She thought she loved him, she had been wondering if she was in love but last night… Last night Samuel had texted and she knew it was useless to pretend there could ever be someone else. 

“Oh, dear, I’m so sorry”. Carla hated Sarah’s accent, the way she was always honey, or darling, or dear, or love. She barely knew the girl.

“It’s fine”, she had perfected her fake smile over the years, “really, I just realized it was going nowhere so I left him.”

“So… you’re okay? I thought you two were very close.”

“As friends.” Carla said, not leaving any room for questions. She gathered the sheets of paper Sarah gave her and went to the copy room.

She had exaggerated her relationship with Lucas to her boss. They had met at Uni, he was studying business and came from one of the most influential families in Paris, he was tall and handsome, but, most importantly, he was filthy rich. Maybe it was that, the fact that her parents would’ve loved him, that made her unable to fall in love with the guy, maybe it was the brown eyes that had hunted her dreams all the way from Spain, she didn't know.

They’d been seeing each other on and off all through that year and, a few months ago he asked to formalize things because his parents wanted to meet her, she’d said yes because she didn’t have anything else to do. Lucas understood when, last night, she told him their relationship was going nowhere. They hadn’t spoken since she’d left for London a couple of weeks ago, it wasn’t surprising at all that things ended. She’d told her boss he was the love of her life, mostly to get her to shut up and stop asking.

She made the photocopies and handed them to Sarah, she then grabbed her things and left the offices. It was 7:30pm it still felt weird to need a thin jacket in July, but she would get used to it, she got used to most things, after all.

She arrived at the apartment she was renting half an hour later, she’d decided to walk there. It was a small loft in Soho, she didn’t need much more, it was just her, it was Valerio who liked extravagant things, not her, she liked luxury and beauty, but she didn’t need for things to be extravagant. Valerio had complained last week, when he’d come to visit with the excuse of a meeting about the wineries. He had ended up renting a room at a 5 star hotel close to her apartment because, “he had lived in a car for almost a month, he was not about to repeat the experience by sleeping in a pull out couch” as he put it.

He had also told her to break up with Lucas then, she didn’t do it more out of laziness than anything else, she didn’t want to have the conversation and, out of sight out of mind, so she almost never thought about the poor guy.

She got out of her work clothes and into the shower, she let the water run over her shoulders as she thought about what to wear. Samuel had seen her at her best and at her worst, in designer dresses, in uniform, in ordinary clothes, naked… It was a date, right? Should she dress up, she had a very nice, very simple black dress somewhere in her wardrobe that could work, it actually reminded her of the dress she’d worn the first time they’d slept together, more fucked than slept, she corrected herself. Would he remember it? The anger, the sexual tension, the tiny bathroom stall?

No, she couldn’t wear that dress, it was a “let’s have sex” kind of dress and it wasn’t that she didn’t want to sleep with the guy, but… It was Samuel, Samuel would see right through her armour and she didn’t know how but she knew he hadn’t texted her to get laid in London and wearing that might imply that she thought she only wanted a quick fuck and that would hurt him. She’d caused him enough pain already.

She moved forward to grab the shampoo. Maybe something more causal, a casual evening dress? No, that was too innocent, she wasn’t about to pretend she was something she wasn’t.

When she stepped out of the shower she put on a pair of skinny blue jeans and a green oversized designer hoodie. That should do. She dried her hair with a hair drier and then ironed it and tied it in a pony tale. She put on very light make up and waited. It was 8:45 and they said he’d come over at 9:00. She’d texted him the address a few hours ago.

She wasn’t nervous, she felt in control of the situation, she’d always felt in control around Samuel, it was when he wasn’t there that she spiralled. He balanced her out. She knew she should be nervous, she hand’t seen him in a year, she wasn’t even giddy with excitement, she was calm, everything was where it should be, there was nothing else to do, there weren’t any games left to play between them. This was gonna be real if they allowed it to be.

So she sat down at one of the kitchen stools, pulled out her phone, checked her e-mail, there was nothing there, then she checked her messages, Samuel just texted her that he was on his way and she sent back an Okay and checked the hour, it would take him about half an hour to get there so she face timed Valerio.  
“Hello, hello, hello!” He said from the other side of the phone. He was at the beach. “Lu! Looked who finally decided to remember we exist!”

Carla laughed from London as she saw Lu appear on her phone screen.

“I love your bikini”

“Isn’t it wonderful?” Lu began to spin so she could get a full look at her.

“Almost as beautiful as the girl wearing it” said Valerio, Lu pretended to punch him and sat down at the hammock beside her brother.

“How is London treating you? Are you tired already of that tiny room you call apartment?”

Carla laughed at Valerio and didn’t even try to defend her loft, it was perfect in her eyes and that was all that mattered.

“What are you doing dressed like that? It’s Friday! Aren’t you going out?” Lu asked, visibly worried.

“Kind of” Carla replied not even trying to hide her smile.

“I know that smile, what’s going on, Carla? Is Lucas coming over?” her best friend was suddenly very excited, jumping up and down on her hammock like a five year old.

“I broke up with him last night.” She said, never loosing her smile.

“Then who…? Oh my God, Carla.” Carla loved seeing the wheels turning inside Lu’s head as she figured it out. “Samuel, Samuel, NO FUCKING WAY YOU’RE SEEING SAMUEL TONIGHT THAT’S WHY YOU LOOK LIKE A FACTORY WORKER!”

“I do not look like a factory worker, thank you very much”

“I’ve met some very sexy factory workers” added Valerio, no one knew why he said that so both girls ignored him.

“What is he doing in London?”

“I don’t know, but he texted yesterday that he wanted to see me and he’s coming over in a little bit.” Lu’s eyes had doubled in size, she looked ridiculous but lovely at the same time.

“Carla! What are you gonna do?”

“They are gonna fuck, what else would they do?”

“Shut up, Valerio, you’re not helping”, his sister scolded him.

“Hey, she called me, not you, this was meant to be MY conversation with Carla, you’re the one getting in the middle of it when no one has asked you to.”

“I want her to” said Carla, laughing at the two siblings bickering. Sometimes she wanted a sibling to joke around with too, maybe if she’d had one she wouldn’t be as cold.

Suddenly the door bell rang and Carla looked at her friends through her phone. 

“He’s here” she said smiling.

“Good luck” said Valerio

“She doesn’t need it.” Lu sent her a kiss through the phone and she hung up and opened the door.

There he was.

Samuel, in old baggy jeans, run down shoes, a gray t-shirt and a black jacket. The first thing Carla noticed though, was that he was still wearing his chain necklace. He was still the Samuel she’d left in Madrid a year ago.

Samuel smiled a sweet smile when he saw her there, she was barefooted, it was a stupid detail, but she was barefooted, and Samuel somehow understood what that meant. There weren't any walls up, it was just the two of them, whatever happened next would be only up to them, there was no family, no friends, no obligations, that could get between them.

Carla was breathtaking, her coy smile, her blue eyes... She still had her long blonde hair that he loved so much. How had he been able to let her go?

“Hi” he said quietly.

His voice melted her, she was home.

“Hi” she replied.

“Can I come in?”

“Yes, of course.”

She moved aside and let him come through, seeing him there, in her space turned her on, which she hadn’t expected. She just decided to go for it and hugged his back to her.

Samuel felt Carla’s arms around him, her embrace, how was he able to leave her? He was home. He melted into her embrace.

“God, I’ve missed this” she said dangerously close to his ear. Fuck, he felt the familiar sexual tension building up around them.

“Me too” he turned around and touched his forehead to hers, breathing in the familiar scent. “Fuck” he said when she pressed herself to him.

“I really wasn’t expecting this” she said, laughing quietly when he kissed her neck.

“I’ll stop if you want me to, but I don’t thing I’ll be able to concentrate till we have this out of the way.”

Carla pressed herself harder to him, “Me neither”, she said, then she grabbed him by the hair and pulled his mouth to hers. The kiss was passionate, fast and needy. 

“We do need to talk later, you know?” Samuel said as he pulled her hoodie off.

“Later” she replied, crashing their mouths together and moving him to the bedroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope that you liked it! I'll be posting the next chapter within the next couple of days, although I cannot tell you exactly when because then I won't post it that day and I'll feel super guilty, so expect it in two or three days! Thank you so much for reading this and remember to wash your hands!


	3. It's gonna be alright

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carla and Samuel talk about the past and figure out each other while sitting on the floor eating macaroni. (there's a sex scene, nothing too x rated, I don't think, but beware if you don't feel comfortable with it.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, it's super late in Barcelona, but I told someone I'd post this tonight, so here it is! I hope you really enjoy it! This is almost over, it's so weird, I'm really enjoying this story, maybe I'll write one extra chapter, we'll see where this leads me. I hope everyone is staying as safe as possible, and that you all have a good read!

“When did you get this?”

Carla looked over her shoulder, they were lying in bed together, Samuel was tracing the edges of her tattoo with his finger, a line of small roses ran along her spine, beginning with the first rib and ending in her left shoulder. 

“My first week in Paris”

“Why?” Samuel knew Carla, or at the very least he thought he did, she loved her skin, took care of it, he never thought she’d be the kind of person to get a tattoo. It was beautiful, though, almost as much as she was, naked and lying on her stomach, about to fall asleep. She had a serious look on her face and was looking at him with wondering eyes, trying to decide whether it was a good idea to expose herself like that, after all they’d only just found their way to each other after one year of silence.

“I needed to remind myself that I hadn’t abandoned you, there’s a rose for each of us, one for each one who lied that night. Valerio, Lu, Caye, Guzmán, Omar, Ander, Rebe, Polo, you and I. We all have a rose. I just… I needed to remind myself that it had happened and that that bound us together even if we didn’t want it to.”

The look of understanding in Samuel’s eyes said more than any answer the boy could have given. She smiled at him and he smiled back, kissing her lightly.

“Okay” Carla said then, “my turn”

“Your turn?”

“To ask you a question” she clarified. 

“Okay,” he paused and laughed. “Shoot.”

“What took you so long?” There were no accusations in her voice, just confusion. She didn’t hold the fact that he hadn’t come earlier against him, she just wanted to know, wanted to understand.

“I didn’t really know where you stood.”

“I told you I would like for you to come”.

“Yes, you also ignored me for half a year, half a year where I made it very clear that I… I’m sorry, I don’t hold it against you, it’s just, I was confused, I still am. Why did you? I saw you weren’t happy, you were spiralling but you…”

Carla knew they’d have to have that conversation if they wanted the wounds to heal, if they wanted to put the past behind them and build something new, she just hadn’t expected to have that conversation right that moment. She moved and sat down on the bed, looking at Samuel, the boy followed her movements so they were facing each other. She held out a hand and he grabbed it.

“Okay, you are not gonna like it”

“I can take it, whatever it is”

“We’ll see” the sad smile that formed on her lips scared him, he had no clue where it all was going.

“I didn’t want any of this to happen. When last year began all I wanted to do was to get it over with and move on, get out of Madrid, start over somewhere else and then you came along and I… I really wanted to protect my secret, to protect Polo, Marina was dead, no one was going to win, there was no need for Polo to go to jail. So I, honestly, you were right at Rebeca’s Halloween party, at least at the beginning I slept with you to keep you close.”

Samuel smiled, “I know all of that”.

“I know you do, I just want to tell you everything that happened from my perspective, so that you can understand better what happened next, why it had to happen. I don’t know exactly when I started liking you, Samu, I guess it was when you decided you wanted to get to know me better. Samuel, you are not a complicated person, I knew why you wanted to get to know me, I know that you were using me.”

“I’m sorry, Carla I should never…”

“Don’t worry, I used you too. And I was winning, I almost won. The thing was I fell in love with you fast and deep. There was no point denying it. And then you fucking disappeared. Do you have any idea how worried I was? How much it hurt? I thought my father had killed you.”

“I’m sorry I never wanted to hurt you.”

“No. Don’t lie, you wanted to. My feelings were collateral damage, you wanted a confession and it was the only way for you to get one. I had to think you were dead, I had to hate my father more than I wanted to protect Polo. Well, you won.”

“I’m so sorry, Carla”.

She smiled a sweet smile and stroked his cheek.

“I know, I’ve always known, Samuel, like I told you before, you are not a complicated person, I can read you like an open book, everyone can.”

“Well thank you” Samuel’s reply was sarcastic, put he kissed the palm of Carla’s hand to let her know he wasn’t offended.

“It’s good, Samuel, you’re honest and kind and that’s good. Well, when I saw that you’d comed back, that is was all a lie, that nothing had happened to you... I was mad, so mad, I was mad that you’d won and I was mad at myself for allowing you to win. I needed space, the whole thing made me realize that I loved you and then when you came back I just felt stupid. And everyone in school hated me and at home my dad wouldn’t even look at me. I only had my mom. My dad threatened me by saying that if I declared against Polo we’d lose the wineries and my mom would not have been able to get through that, she wouldn’t. That’s why I retracted myself.”

Samuel was looking at her in the eyes, hanging from every word. She loved him for that, Lucas would’ve never been able to forget about her body with both of them naked on a bed, but Samuel, Samuel who knew every curve, every scar, every inch of her skin as if it were his own, he had no trouble forgetting about it and seeing her, the person inside, as clearly as the sun. 

“I kind of figured that out, I was so mad at you at the beginning, I didn’t get why you’d do that, betray your friends to save your family, then I realized that’s exactly what I had done to you and I had to make the same choice again with Rebeca.”

“Sometimes life is complicated”. Carla stated quietly.

“Yes it is, but that’s what I like about being with you, when I’m with you life gets more simple, the choice is just, do I want to be with you or not? Usually the answer is that, as long as you want to be with me, I want to be with you.”

“Me too. That scares me though, that what we feel for each other is so strong”.

“Is that why you left last year? Why you didn’t stay?”

“Part of it yes, the other part is that I needed to get away from my family.”

“Your mother too?” Samuel was confused.

“Especially her.”

“Why?”

“Do you want to hear about Yeray?”

No, he thought, I’m not ready to hear you go on and on about him, he never saw you, not the way I did.

“Do you need to talk about it?”

She sighed and hugged her legs tight to her chest. Did she need to? Maybe no, not really, it was dead and buried, but maybe she wanted to, she wanted to because she wanted to make whatever it was they had between them to work.

“I want to tell you, I’m just not all that sure that I know how to do it. Why don’t you tell me something?”

Samuel laughed. “Okay, what do you want to know?”

“What are you exactly doing in London? Did you just come to see me?”

“No, I almost didn’t come because you were here”. She looked at him with a curious look.”We got drunk one night before finals and Guzmán decided that we needed an end of school trip. Cayetana said that she’d love to see London and in thirty minutes we had bought the plane tickets.”

“You hang out with Cayetana?” Carla was surprised, she’d thought Samuel would be mad at the girl for everything that happened with Polo, she’d had the trophy hidden in her room for months so that Polo wouldn’t get caught, and Samuel wasn’t someone who forgave easily.

“It’s like you said earlier, what happened that night bound us together and Cayetana was devastated after everything and Rebeca and her became friends out of the blue. She’s nice, you know? She was so sad this year, Carla, it was very hard to see her, she blamed herself for so many things that had nothing to do with her, I don’t know. We kind of became friends over time.”´

Samuel shrugged and Carla smiled. “I’m glad she’s got you, guys.”

“Yeah, me too. So that’s why I’m here.”

“Why did you almost not come because of me? Why didn’t you want to see me? Is it really just because you didn’t know where I stood?” She’d wanted to ignore that, to pretend he hadn’t said it and move on, but hearing him say that he’d tried to ignore her had hurt, she’d guessed that after not hearing from him for almost a year, she’d done the same, after all, but hearing him say it… That was a whole other deal altogether.

“I… I don’t know if we work, I don’t know if we work with no games between us. It’s like you said, we were always trying to manipulate the other and now… I don’t know if we work without all that, without having to read between lines.”

“We’ll never know if we don’t give it a chance, Samuel.”

“I know, that’s why I’m here, to give it a chance. To put us first for once.”

“I like that.”

“Oh? You do?”

Samuel had a playful smile on his face.

“Don’t laugh at me!” She threw a pillow at him and he dodged it falling on his back. She straddled him and pinned his wrists against the mattress. He let her do whatever she wanted with him, he was happy, even if the conversation was tough and it hurt to relive the past he had the feeling they were building a bridge piece by piece, brig by brig, and that meant everything. 

“I’m not laughing at you! I swear”

“Good.” Carla kissed him, it started sweet, slow and loving, but that didn’t last. Fuck. Carla thought when he brought his hips up, looking for friction, and she felt him hard underneath her. She braced herself for another round of frenetic, needy and passionate sex and grabbed him by the base, ready to ride him into climax.  
“No, Carla.” He said turning them over so that he was on top.

“You don’t want to?” She asked with a devilish smile, she knew he wanted to, she felt it, he was just playing hard to get. “I thought we were done with games.” Samuel smiled the sweetest smile in the world.

“We are, Carla, we are” he kissed her slowly. “I just want this to last.”

She smiled up again, there was so much devotion and admiration, so much love in his face she felt the need to cry, she hadn’t cried in years, but, under the boy she loved feeling with all certainty that he loved her too, she almost did. So she kissed him slowly, lovingly, like he’d asked, like she’d wanted to for so long. “I love you” she said simply, when their lips parted, not expecting an answer. She got one, though. “I love you too.”

They made love then, slowly and with so much care, putting the other’s pleasure before their own, their bodies fit like puzzle pieces, they were home in each other’s embrace, almost as if one body had been made only to hold the other and one soul to love the other. In that bed, making love, it felt like all the world made sense, like their lives made sense.

Later that night Carla was sitting at one of the stools of her kitchen while Samuel was chopping garlic.

“Are you sure your cooking skills have improved?” She asked, only half joking.

“Your mind is gonna be blown” He answered laughing.

“We can always order in, you know?”

“Will you please trust me?” he said throwing an apple from the fruit bowl at her.

“I do! I do!” She said laughing. She put the apple back and smiled at him.

“What?”

“What, what?” She asked, the stupid look still plastered on her face.

“You’re smiling way too much, I’m starting to miss cold, unreachable Carla, she was way less creepy.”

She laughed. “You’re good for me.” Was all that she said as an explanation.

“Why? ‘Cause I make you laugh?” he was kidding, but, underneath his playful exterior, she saw he needed the answer to be yes. It was.

“Yep.” She said keeping her tone light and playful, but his face got serious all of a sudden.

“Did Yeray make you laugh?” 

She braced herself for the conversation. “Do you really want to know?”

“I don’t know, do I?”

“No, he didn’t make me laugh. I was miserable with him, he’s a good guy, don’t get me wrong, he’s just not… I don’t know, it was a very weird year.”

“Why were you with him then? I saw how sad and lost you were, but you… You didn’t break up with him until you overdosed, Carla, what happened?”

“My father threatened to kill you.” There. She’d said it. “That’s why I pulled away. He told me I had to be with Yeray to save the wineries and, basically, that if he ever saw me talking to you again, that’d be the last time I ever talked to you.” Samuel put the knife down and moved over to where she was sitting, stopping only once he was between her legs. She looked at him. They were at eye level.

“You should’ve told me, I could’ve done something.”

“I couldn’t risk it, I wouldn’t risk it. You saw what happened to Cristian, I already knew what it felt to think that you had died, Samuel, I could live apart from you. I can live knowing that you hate me, I can live without you, what I cannot do is live in a world where you don’t exist, where there’s no chance for us to meet again.”

“Carla…” He didn’t know what to say. It had sucked, being ignored by Carla, it had hurt and it had made him so mad because he didn’t understand where it was all coming from, but now… “I don’t know what to say, I hate your father, but I think I hate myself even more for not realizing what was going on.”

“There was no way for you to find out Samuel, only I knew, and I was not about to tell you.” She was smiling sweetly, in a way that he’d never seen her do. He pressed his forehead to hers.

“God, I could have done something, I’m sure there was something that I could've done, I don’t know what but…”

“No, Samuel, there was nothing for you to do. It was something that I had to fix for myself. And I did.”

“Is this why you started using?”

“Not really. I started using because I couldn’t leave Yeray, my parents wouldn’t let me, but he was the opposite of what I wanted. Everything he did reminded me of something you did and how much more comfortable I felt then.”

“What do you mean?”

“He bought me a very expensive toothbrush, I swear, it had diamonds and everything. And I… I could only remember when you gave me reheated macaroni, and how happy it made me. And he practically bought me a house, and I remembered making love with you in your old sofa. It’s like he couldn’t stop doing things the opposite way of how you did them, he wanted our relationship to be public, for everyone to know that we were together, but you had been happy just knowing that I knew we were together.” She was tearing up, but she didn’t want to cry, she couldn’t cry, what would he think of her if she just started crying?

“You can cry, Carla, you know that right?” He didn’t know what to do, he’d never seen her like that, he didn’t know what she needed and he only wanted to make things better.

“I don’t want to.” She said looking up, so that the tears wouldn’t fall.

“Okay. I’m gonna go back to making dinner, it’s very late. Is it okay?”

She nodded and he went back and started boiling the water and frying tomatoes, onions and garlic together in a pan. She watched him work. She still didn’t quite trust his cooking skills, but he did look good in the kitchen. She smiled, the tiny loft had definitely been a good idea, she couldn’t imagine Samuel feeling comfortable in a huge house, but here he was at home, this was smaller than his apartment back in Madrid, even Valerio would have to agree with that.

She stood up and went to hug him.

“You know what?” he said putting an arm around her waist while she laied her head on his shoulder.

“What?”

“I thought It’d take me a long time to get used to all of this, you know? Seeing you again and everything. But it doesn’t. What I can’t seem to wrap my head around is the fact that we haven’t been like this this whole year.”

“I know what you mean.” she said. Daring to dip a finger into the sauce and trying it out. It was surprisingly good.

“Do you like it?” He asked, curious.

“It’s surprisingly good.” She stated, smiling.

“What do you mean surprisingly?” He asked bringing the wooden spoon he had been using to stir the sauce to her nose, so it was red. She laughed.

“Do you want to start a war, Samu?” She asked coyly.

He kissed the tomato off her nose and then moved to her lips.

“God I love you.”

Carla smiled. “Well, I’ll love you more once you feed me, it’s past midnight and I haven’t eaten anything since 12am.”

“What do you mean?” How was she still alive? And after the amount of exercise they’d just done.

“It’s London, they eat super early here. It’s a whole thing outside of Spain.”

He laughed. “Sorry that I haven’t left the country before.” He said, jokingly.

“You’re forgiven.”

They set the plates in the coffee table in front of the TV and sat on the floor.

“Do you want wine?” Carla asked from the fridge.

“Do you have beer?” He didn’t particularly enjoy whine.

“I own a few wineries, you know?”

“I do.”

“You’re gonna have to learn about wine, eventually, if you want to be with me.”

“Not right now, Carla please, let me be a simple guy for a couple more minutes before you introduce me to your fancy world.”

She laughed and got him a beer while she poured herself a glass of wine. Where they really gonna be able to pull this off? Would they be able to be with each other outside of the apartment? She noticed the quiet look Samuel gave her and realized he was wondering the same thing. Would love be enough? She knew that it was, at least for now, and that it was time to put him first, so she could make adjustments to make him more comfortable in her world.

“You know what?” He asked, after he swallowed a huge spoonful of macaroni.

“What?” She said smiling and wiping a bit of tomato sauce from the corner of his lips with her thumb.

“I don’t think we’ve ever talked this much.”

“Haven’t we? I don’t know… I feel like I know you so well, Samuel.”

“With me it’s the other way around, I feel like I don’t know you at all, I feel like my soul knows yours, but I don’t know you.”

“That’s so cheesy, Samu.”

They both laughed, but Carla wasn’t fully comfortable. “What will happen when you discover everything there’s to know? Will you still love me then?”

He smiled and held her hand. “Every little thing I learn about you, Carla, makes me fall more in love with you.”

“That’s very cheesy too.”

“It’s all your fault, I used to be a very tough guy, you’ve turned me into a lovesick puppy, I’m not sure I like it.”

She laughed. “I really like that you show this side of you with me, it makes me feel very lucky.”

He winked at her “Same here. No, but really, we’ve never talked this much. How did I fall for you if we hadn’t even had a real conversation?”

“Because ours souls know each other” She said, pretending to be him.

“Did you just make a joke?” Carla’s face belonged in a museum, her eyes big as saucers, realizing that, yes, she had. She never made jokes. Samuel began to laugh and she hit him with a cushion from the sofa. 

“Do not laugh at me!”

“Don’t throw cushions if you don’t want to have to clean sauce off them!”

“God! What’s happening?”

“I’m really happy.” He said, simply.

“Stay over, stay the night.” 

He looked at her. “You sure?”

“Yeah, why not? Are they expecting you?”

Samuel remembered his friends for the first time that night. Fuck. He checked his phone. “They are going out”.

“Oh, if you wanna go, I understand, don’t worry about me.”

“I don’t wanna go. I’m staying here.” 

She smiled at him, again. Her face would end up hurting if she kept smiling like that. She didn’t smile, not like that, not that often. Not even with Valerio and Lu, and she felt very comfortable with the siblings. Samuel had some magic quality that just… Made her immediately feel at home, he was quiet and shy, very serious and very, very, very simple, he loved until the end and fought for his people till his last breath, he was honorable and true and just… Perfect for her. And she was perfect for him, or at least that’s what it seemed, even if she didn’t understand why someone like that would fall for someone as complicated as she was, she didn’t question it, she never allowed herself to do it. He did. That’s all that mattered. He loved her back. 

They both loved quietly and in private, their love would never burn a whole forest, it wasn’t wild and passionate, it wasn’t an adventure, it was the kind of fire in a fireplace, lighting up the room, a fire that was safe and controlled and comfortable, just like them, it was a fire where you’d roast marshmallows and look at it’s flames and how they went from orange, to red, to yellow, to blue and wonder why blue? What was blue doing there? But never question it, without the blue the fire wouldn’t be the same, and that’d be a loss. 

They were brushing their teeth, she had given him a spare toothbrush. He was only wearing his boxers and she had an oversized T-shirt and some panties on, it was past 3am. Samuel couldn’t really believe they were doing such a simple, domestic thing together, but it made sense and it felt right, everything that happened with Carla made sense and felt right, they made sense together, and not in the “society wants you to be together” kind of way, he knew things would be hard for them because society didn’t really like it when classes mixed, but they just made sense, he didn’t think his life would make this much sense with someone else.

“What will happen tomorrow?” She needed to know. What was she getting herself into. She loved him and he loved her, that much was clear, but, would they be able to get to tomorrow? And after tomorrow? Did they have what it took to make it work? “I still have so many questions, Samuel.”

“Me too. But, tomorrow we’re gonna have lunch with everyone.”

“We’ve never done that, you know? Tell people we’re together.”

“It’s gonna be alright.” He kissed her hand and they went to bed. They fell asleep hugging each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this last few days have sucked, I don't really know how to talk about mental health (my brother says it's because I don't have any) but being locked up it's super hard for me, I'm having at least a panic attack a week, which sucks, as you can imagine, I'm saying this because if anyone who's reading this finds themselves in the same situation, you're not alone, we're in this together and we'll get through this. I miss my therapist, though.   
> Any way, I hope you've enjoyed this, if you have any suggestions about what relationship I should tackle next, send it to me!   
> As always, all the love this series is getting is so highly appreciated, like, you couldn't imagine how much, so thanks to everyone who comments, leaves kudos or simply reads it. I love you all and remember to wash your hands.


	4. The Disney version

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carla and Samuel get into a fight and talk about the future (it ends well, don't worry, they just have some shit to sort out)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo... Last chapter... It makes me kind of sad, I really, really, really loved writing this, not only because it took my mind off current events, but because I love this couple to death.
> 
> Thank you so much for all the comments and all the kudos and everything it means so much to me that this story has reached so many of you, I started writing it not really expecting too much out of it but... Like I said, I really appreciate all the love it's been getting.
> 
> Sorry it took me this long to post it and to respond to some of your comments, uni has started again and it's been crazy because I'm the world's biggest procrastinator.
> 
> Any way, thank you all so much again and I really hope you enjoy it, as always, kudos and coments are appreciated, but if you just want to read it, that makes me very happy as well.
> 
> I don't know who was it who send me a comment asking for jealousy, this is kind of it, it's healthy, I think and it comes from a place of love, I really don't know how to say it was you, I'm new to this platform, help.

They were sitting on the kitchen stools, eating cereal in a comfortable silence, neither of them were morning people, so it was good. More than good. Samuel felt at home in that London apartment, it was nice and simple, perfect for just one person, or maybe two people, it wasn’t too big, not like some of his friends’ houses, so big that, if you set your mind to it, you could avoid everyone you were living with without having to stop getting out of your room, or eating, or going to the bathroom. What was the point then? He’d wondered many times in Rebeca’s kitchen, what was the point of living with someone if you don’t see them, if you don’t share the space?

Carla was sending an email from her computer and Samuel took the chance to look at her, really look at her, he’d missed her long hair, she was so beautiful it felt like she’d come out of a storybook. Like she was Rapunzel throwing her hair out of the window so that he could come up to the room and talk to her for a while. He laughed sadly, it was a good analogy, and it didn’t make him happy.

“What are you thinking?” She asked, forgetting about her email for a moment.

“Nothing.” He said, trying to get her to drop the conversation and going back to his cereal.

“Samuel…” She said. He smiled, she had the same expression that Rebeca had had the day before when she’d said the exact same thing.

“What?” Her tone was defensive, she didn’t really understand why he was acting so reserved, and it hurt, they had been so open the night before, and now he was back to being the distant Samuel he was to everyone else, so she went back to being her cold self, two could play that game. She went back to her email after throwing him a cold look that froze him inside, he didn’t want to fight. He put his hand on hers to get her to look at him again.

“I was thinking of Rebeca, she says my name the same way when she wants to get me to speak”. Okay, Carla had to remember herself that the two of them were friends, the girl herself had told her that he’d thought only about her the whole time they were together, but knowing that Rebeca had gotten to live by his side for a whole year, a year that she knew nothing about, made her jealous, so she got mad, she didn’t want to be jealous. What had happened between them? Had something happened again?

“Rebeca?” She asked, still cold, pretending she didn’t care. “How is she?” It hurt to see Samuel’s expression relax into a soft smile thinking of the other girl.

“She’s doing as well as she can, her mom is still dealing and she has a very hard time with that, you know? But she’s fine.”

“Oh… Okay… And do you see each other a lot, now?” She knew the other girl was in London, but someone else could’ve invited her, it didn’t mean Rebe and Samuel were super close, right?

“We are practically living together”. Samuel was smiling, trying to get Carla to soften up again, to get her cold expression off her face, but he was keeping himself at a safe distance, what was going on? What had just happened? They were having breakfast and suddenly she was… cold. Cold like when she hated him, like when she tried to keep him away and he really, really, really didn’t wanna get hurt again, although he knew that, with Carla, he didn’t have much of a choice, if the girl wanted to pull him in time and time again only to break his heart every single time, he’d let her do it. 

“I see… Then what are you doing here, Samuel? Why did you come if you have her?” Then Samuel understood.

“Carla, Rebe and I are definitely NOT together, she is not that big of a masochist, she knows that there’s only you for me, I made it very clear last summer and, after a few weeks of awkward silences, we went back to being friends, Carla, I love her to death, I’d hide a body for her. She’s family, but we are not together.”

Suddenly Carla felt stupid. “I’m sorry, Samu, I knew that, I know that you wouldn’t have come here if you had someone waiting, you’re too loyal to let that happen, but…” She stood up and went to the window, looking out, to the city waking up. “I don’t know, I feel like there’s been this huge gap of time between the last time we saw each other to today, and… I don’t know, she’s gotten to live it with you and I know you did like her, really liked her. So… I guess I’m jealous.” When she finished talking she looked at him, he’d gotten up and was standing by her side, their noses almost touching, would there be a time when being this close to him let her think clearly? She hoped no, she loved the sexual tension, she loved having to breathe in slowly to concentrate, she loved being able to feel him close.

“It’s fine” he said running a hand up and down her arm, she was wearing a sleeveless shirt and wherever he touched her, he left a path of goosebumps. “I really did like her, you know? A lot. That’s why I tried to make it work, but every time I thought I had forgotten about you, that I could be with her without anything between us, I saw you walking to class, or dancing at the club or, I don’t know, even getting in the car and I… I forgot that she even existed.”

“God I feel so stupid, I mean, even if you’d seen somebody else, you were in your right to do so. It’s fine, we weren’t together it’s just that… I don’t know, thinking about someone else with you makes me feel so lonely.” She looked up at the ceiling as she was speaking, she counted the knots the wood made, there were around 10 right on top of her.

“Carla…” She looked at him, very composed, like always, but not as cold, just serious and controlled, he could deal with that Carla, he knew that Carla. “Who’s the guy from the picture in your bedside table?” She went back to cold. He hadn’t meant it as an accusation, he just wanted to know, but she took a step back. “Why do you care?” Her voice was cold and distant, Samuel took a deep breath and braced himself for the conversation.

“I don’t, no really, I just also want to know everything that happened to you this past year and… Are you cheating on someone right now?”

Carla turned around, hurt by his words.

“You should know me better than that”. She spat at him, then she picked up the cereal bowls and put them on the dishwasher and looked around the kitchen for something to do, something to clean up, she needed to keep her hands busy. How dared he ask her something like that? He should know her better than that by this point. 

Seeing the kitchen was as clean as it was ever going to get she went back to the bedroom and pulled the curtains open to let the sun light in and opened a window. The room smelled of sex, sex and him. She needed that to go. She was mad.

“Carla, please, don’t take it like that, I just want to know.” He followed her around the apartment apologizing. He felt stupid, he just really wanted to know, it was that simple. She turned around and the air that came in through the open window got her hair on her face, she began tying it on a ponytail.

“I broke up with him the moment you told me you were coming, not that it is any of your business.” She said as she began tidying up the room, much to her frustration, Samuel helped her on the other side of the bed.

“Can I ask you about him?” He asked, not wanting to get her even madder but wanting to know. She took a deep breath and sat on the bed, frustrated with her feelings for Samuel. “His name is Lucas” she said looking at him with a very serious and sincere expression, she was saying the truth, and she was still mad. “We shared a couple of classes last semester and started seeing each other, we dated for three months or so, it didn’t work, so we broke up.”

He sat down on the other side of the bed, he remembered having a conversation right in that spot the night before, fully naked, a conversation that ended in an “I love you” and sex something he was willing to bet wouldn’t happen now. He tried to figure out how he felt about what she’d said, he wasn’t jealous, it was evident that she didn’t feel for the french guy what she felt for him, he understood her loneliness way too well, he hadn’t expected her to stay alone for a long time, he knew her, that wasn’t her, the same way he wouldn’t have stayed single if he had been alone, loneliness was very hard to deal with, specially if you were doing it alone.

“Did he treat you well?” That was all that mattered. She smiled, going back to her warmer self, it felt good to know that he still cared about her, even when they were fighting, or when she was trying to get him to fight.

“Yes, Samuel, I date people who treat me well.”

“Yeray…”

“He always treated me well, even when I didn’t deserve it, the fact that my parents made me date him has nothing to do with how he treated me.”

“Okay… Can I ask you one more thing?”

Carla looked at him and nodded.

“He was from your world, wasn’t he?”

“Yeray?”

“No, Lucas.”

She looked at him, why did that matter?

“Are you asking me if he was rich?”

“Yes, but not only that, you know what I mean.”

She didn’t, not really. He watched his frustrated look and matched it with one of her own, the morning was going so well! Why did he have to open his mouth and ruin it? What did it matter? They were together. She was tired of thinking five steps ahead, she’d been doing it for a long time, she just wanted to enjoy her time with Samuel, but he didn’t let her. God, “Just let it go, Samu!” She whispered frustrated putting the pillow back in its place with way more force than was required.

“You know when you asked about what I was thinking?” She wasn’t following. “Before, in the kitchen, you asked what I was thinking and that’s how we ended up fighting.” Samuel hated fighting with Carla, although he did liked the way they fought, there were no raised voices, no comments intended to hurt, no meanness, just frustration and anger and, yes, Carla sometimes slapped him, but the few times she’d done it he’d known it was coming, he’d pushed her buttons way too deep and it usually only confirmed to him what he already knew, he was right and she couldn’t admit it.

He sat down on the floor, his back resting on the bed and she came around and sat against the closet, across from him, she wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her head on her knees, ready to listen, still mad, but curiosity had won.

“Please, Carla, listen, because you need to know this because, if we want whatever there is between us to work we need to change this.”

Carla was terrified, she didn’t want to admit it but she was, he was looking at her with such a serious expression, he made her feel small and scared, she didn’t want to live in a world where she didn’t love Samuel, and where Samuel didn’t love her back, she wanted her relationship to work more than she’d ever wanted anything in her life, but, what if whatever Samuel wanted to talk about was unfixable? What would happen then?

“Do you remember the story about Rapunzel?” She only nodded, letting him keep talking. “Okay, I feel like you’re her, you live in this high tower and are unreachable and untouchable, and I come to your window every chance I get and sing to you so you’ll let me climb up your hair to your window. And then we have this moments, this moment where I’m the happiest I’ve ever been, and you make me laugh (which I don’t do often) and make me feel young and loved and understood. And it’s amazing and I never want it to end, I love our dynamic, how we always seem to know what the other feels and thinks, how verbalizing things is unnecessary because you get me.

But then the sun comes up and I realize that I don’t fit in, your room, your life, everything you are is too much for me, Carla, I want a simple life, I don’t want to be rich because that brings with it a lot of social responsibilities that, honestly, I don’t want. I don’t want to go to a party and pretend to be nice to people I don’t really like, I don’t like this world where relationships are like business deals, or just business deals, where people get close to you because you have something material to offer. I don’t fit in your world, Carla and, yes, I could play pretend to make you happy, but that’d make me miserable and that’s not fair, not to you and not to me.  
And the fact that I’m the only person you’ve dated that doesn’t come from your world and who isn’t interested in it… I don’t know. It makes me wonder whether I’m just your way to rebel against your parents and once you get your point across to them you’ll leave me. And that’s unfair, because I know it’s not true, I know what we have is real, I’ve always known, but sometimes, I feel more lonely than usually or I don’t know, sad or something, and I wonder… And I’m not doing it right now, but probably there will come a point where we’ll fight about it and I’ll hurt you and I don’t want to do that. I also don’t want you to leave your world because I know you like it sometimes, even if sometimes it gets to be too much.”

Carla smiled and crawled to his side, they sat there, shoulder to shoulder for a while, she hooked her pinky to his, it felt like a promise.

“Have you watched Tangled?”

“No, what’s that?”

Carla smiled, his analogy had been a good one, but, as always, she liked the Disney version of the story better, those had a happy ending, she wanted a happy ending.  
“The Disney version of Rapunzel” she said sweetly, bumping her shoulder softly against his, they weren’t looking at each other, but she felt his soft, silent laugh. “We’ll watch it someday.” She promised before she continued with her story. “In that version she’s trapped with an evil stepmother who’s also a witch, but she doesn’t know it, she doesn’t know she’s trapped, she doesn’t know that her perfect world isn’t real, until she dares to get out of her tower, but she doesn’t do it alone, one day, this thieve climbs up to her window, she doesn’t want him there and at the beginning she just wants him to leave, she hits her with a pan several times”

“Sounds familiar”, Samuel said, they looked at each other through the corner of their eyes and chuckled, remembering. “How does it end?”

“She finds her place in the world, she leaves behind the tower and he stops robbing, she cuts her hair, too. What I’m saying here, Samu, in case the analogy wasn’t clear enough, is that my family sucks and, although I knew my parents weren’t perfect I brushed off their flaws thinking that they were just that, silly things that everyone had and that I could easily love them in spite of them. It wasn’t until you showed up that I realized that it wasn’t normal and that they had this life set up for me, a life that I didn’t want to live, and they were forcing me to live it by not letting me see what else was out there in the world, I was locked up in a tower for 17 years, and then you helped me out and I saw the world, your world, and I saw what else there was for me, I started picturing a life different from the one my parents wanted me to live, and my dad threatened to kill you.” she scoffed, still in disbelief.

“My parents are not good people, my family is the worst, and it took me caring about something, someone, in a way they hadn’t planned for me to realize that. Samuel, I love my world, I love the parties, the dresses, the houses, even the people, I love playing the game, but I love yours too. I like eating reheated macaroni in a worn down sofa at midnight, I like your small and cozy apartment, I’d like to spend a million quiet nights under your covers simply watching Netflix, but I’d love to show you the world. I don’t want to give up my money, Samu, I don’t want to give up my world, I’m just saying maybe we can find a middleground, somewhere, between your world and mine.”

“A world that’s just ours.” He said, smiling and looking at her. She laid her head on her knees again, this time looking at him.

“Exactly.” He reached out and grabbed a strand of her hair and put it behind her ear, it was a sweet, intimate gesture and she couldn’t help herself when she closed her eyes, enjoying his touch as he ran his hand through her hair, brushing it softly.

“I only have one condition” Carla didn’t open her eyes, she could feel the teasing sound of his voice.

“What is it?”

Samuel looked at her, he was the luckiest man on the world, this beautiful, smart creature somehow wanted to spend her life by his side. “Please don’t cut your hair, I don’t care how the movie ends, I love your hair.” She laughed softly and opened her eyes as she moved to straddle him.

“Okay, I won't.” She kissed him softly and he responded, she loved it when he kissed her like that, like she was the most important thing in the world, like he couldn’t quite believe she was real, she felt worshiped in a way she’d never felt before, Polo had adored her, he’d loved her, but in a way you love a god, he’d felt she was above him, she knew that she held a power over Polo that he didn’t hold over her. With Samuel was different, they were both at the same level, she also couldn’t quite believe he wanted to be with her, she was damaged goods, she’d made more mistakes than she could count and she’d hurt him, even if it had been to protect him, yet here he was, looking up at her with loving eyes, she knew he felt the same way, he loved her the way she loved him.

They pulled apart and stared at each other for a long time, Carla brought up her hands and traced the shape of his face with her fingers, memorizing it, loving it, loving him. He closed his eyes and let her, a long, satisfied breath leaving his lips.

“What are you thinking about?” She asked softly, brushing her fingers against the bridge of his nose. He didn’t open his eyes.

“I’m terrified.” He simply stated. “Carla, I want to spend my life with you.”

She smiled softly, knowing he couldn’t see her. “Me too.” He didn’t say anything else, he knew she understood, it was a scary feeling knowing that you wanted to love someone for the rest of your life, it was even more scary than realizing you were in love, which was pretty terrifying within of itself.

“How do you want to do it?” She asked as she brought her fingertips to his eyelids and kissed him softly on the jaw, where, she realized, he had a little cut, probably from shaving.

“The whole loving each other but not being together in the same city?” he asked opening his eyes to see her blue ones staring back at him, a mix of curiosity and sadness.

“I can’t do long distance” was all she said. He brushed her hair from her face.

“Neither can I” he admitted, “but we can’t uproot our lives, you have university in Paris and I’ve got a scholarship waiting for me at home.”

“There’s only one way out of this mess.” She said looking at him with love.

“I’d trust you with my life” he said softly. “And I trust our feelings for each other more than anything in the world, I’ve always known how you felt about me, about us, even when you were trying to deny it, I knew. It’s fine”, he said kissing her lips lightly, it was more a brush than a kiss, to be honest. “We can visit each other whenever we can, whenever we have the time and the money, in my case”, she laughed at this, “but I can’t ask you to be only with me, it’s not fair, we’re both human and if we were exclusive we’d hurt each other, I don’t wanna hurt you, Carla, not anymore, from now on you come first.”

She smiled, her insides were filled with warmth and love for the boy below her. She rested her forehead against his and sighed.

“You come first for me too, Samu” she said, it was easy, it was easy because it was true. “But, yeah, being exclusive right now… I don’t think it’s the time, maybe in three years, when I start really running the wineries and move back to Madrid…”

“No maybes, Carla, please, in three years it’s just you and me and no one else in your bed.” He said, feeling strangely possessive for someone who’d just proposed to leave the relationship open.

“Okay,” she smiled and looked at his brown eyes, how could he be so perfect? How could he be just hers? “I need four things, though, in order for this to work.”  
He simply nodded, whatever she wanted he would do, if he was being honest, he was at her mercy.

“First” she took his hand and raised one of his fingers, “we can’t have sex with anyone we know, it has to be always a stranger” she said. He nodded, it made sense, it was easier to have no strings attached to someone you hadn’t met than to a friend. She raised his middle finger. “Two, we can’t have sex twice with the same person” he nodded again, it made sense too, his third finger went up before she had the time to bring it up herself, they smiled at each other. “Third, I want to know when it happens” he didn’t have problems with telling her, but he really was curious as to why, he saved the question for later, though, letting her finish. 

“What’s the fourth one?” he asked when she didn’t say anything for a while.

“Four, she said, we’ll see each other every holiday and every long weekend, if you can’t afford to come, I will, this way we’ll see each other once or twice a month.”  
He smiled, “Okay”. Then he crushed their lips together and laid her down on her back, took off her shirt and suck two fingers inside of her without much of a warning as he bit on her nipple. She moaned, softly and smiled, it hurt, she wasn’t ready for the invasion, but she didn’t care, it was gonna be rough, and she loved rough sex with Samuel.

“I want you to remember me” he said from her breasts, “I’m gonna make you remember me, every time another guy comes inside you, or in front of you, every time you come and it’s not me touching you, you’ll get home and think of me, and touch yourself, and come undone with my name on your lips.” He brought his eyes to her level and stared deep into them, without ever stopping the hard movements of his hands, she was melting in a pool of pleasure. “You don’t have to think of me when you’re with them, but I want you to think of me once it’s done, of how, no matter how many men you take to your bed, no one is able to make you feel the way I do.”

She looked at him and brought her legs up dug her heels in and brought down his boxers with her feet, freeing him, he touched his face with her hands, marvelled by his feelings, by how deep they ran. “I promise.” She whispered, he entered her right then and there, not bothering to get her out of her panties, just pushing them aside.

It was rough and fast, just the way they liked it when feelings were too much, they came within seconds of each other and then they laid on the floor, Samuel still had his t-shirt on, Carla her panties. God, he thought, I can’t believe she wants to be with me. 

She laid her head on his chest and kissed him through the fabric of the shirt, he just stared at her.

“Can I ask you a question?” He said brushing her hair out of her face.

“As long as it’s not about exes”, she really didn’t want to have to go over that again, not yet anyway, she wanted for the bliss to last a little longer. He chuckled.

“It’s not about exes” he assured her.

“Then go ahead.”

“Why do you want me to tell you whenever I sleep with someone?” She looked at him and smiled a very dangerous smile.

“I don’t want you to just tell me how many people you sleep with, I want you to tell me how many times they make you come, too.” She said through her smile as she brushed played mindlessly with his nipples through his shirt.

“Why?”

“I’m gonna make you come twice as many times”. She said planting a kiss on his chest. He laughed a full laugh that reverberated through his body.

“Good” he said cupping her ass and squeezing once.

They stayed like that for a while, happy and satisfied. Then Samuel’s phone began to rang, he didn’t rush to answer it, but he did sit up, she didn’t, though, and remained on the floor, her breasts on display and her nipples slightly hardened because of the cold air that came through the window. She was a goddess, she was her goddess. He stared at her from his position and traced a path from her navel to her chin, leaving goosebumps everywhere his fingers brushed, she sighed, content and happy.

“I haven’t told you how much I’ve missed you” he said, still amazed by the woman in front of him. 

She smiled, her devilish smile, “well, you’ve comed three times in less than 12 hours, I would have missed me too” she said, cocky. He laughed.

“Yeah, thank you for that”. He waited a second for her to go look at him again, once she did he continued, “but it’s not just that, although, yes, sex with you is amazing… I just… missed making you laugh and you making me laugh and how cocky you are and the way you smile, and how organized and strong you are and… Just I missed you, being with you.”

She sat up and have him a quick peck on the lips. “I’ve missed you too.” She said, a sweet smile on her lips, still processing that someone as good as Samuel was willing to wait for her three whole years. She hugged him tight to her body, resting her head on his shoulder, loving the way his strong arms seemed embraced her, she felt protected.

“When are you leaving London?” She whispered in his ear, suddenly feeling very vulnerable.

“I don’t know” he answered, turning his head so that they were looking at each other. “We don’t have tickets to Madrid yet, but I cannot stay for more than three weeks.” He said. “I’ve promised my brother I would go visit him in Morocco, I haven’t seen him in a few months now.”

He pulled back, stood up and grabbed his boxers from the floor. “We’re gonna make the most of it”. She said, determinate, as she put her t-shirt back on and grabbed his phone from the night stand to hand it over to him.

“Of course we will.” He pressed himself into her back and kissed her cheek. “Of course we will.”

He checked his phone, he had four missed calls and over a hundred texts from his friends, half of them where photos on the group chat. He dialed Omar’s phone number. “I need to call Omar, okay?” She smiled and nodded, leaving for the shower.

“Tell him I say hi.” She said.

“I will”.

The other boy picked up at once.

“I assume the night went well” he said, Samu didn’t have to see him to know he had a smug smile plastered on his face.

“Shut up.” He said laughing as he laid on the bed.

“Tell me when you want to burst into song so that I can get earplugs.”

“Shut up”, he repeated, smiling, though.

“Okay, so are you two together now?” Omar asked from the other side of the phone, a more serious tone right now.

“Kind of, yeah, I mean, it’s an open relationship, for obvious reasons, but yeah.”

“I’m happy for you, dude.” Was the sincere reply Samuel got from the other side of the line.

“Yeah, me too” he said practically laughing. “Okay, so, what are the plans for today?”

“Well, we wanted to go have lunch in Hyde Park, Caye and Ander decided to pack a picnic and feed the squirrels or something.” Omar sounded confused by his boyfriend’s ideas, but Samuel simply laughed. “Why don’t you come? I would love to see Carla again!” Samuel realized Ander must’ve stolen Omar’s phone.  
“I’ll ask her, I make no promises, though” he said, they really hadn’t talked about how she felt about his friends, feeling linked to them and actually wanting to see them again where two very different things.

“If you manage to stop fucking for two minutes, you’ll come.” Was all he said, Samuel guessed that he’d handed over the phone back to Omar because he heard static for a couple seconds.

“Sorry about that.” Omar apologized, “although I think you should come, I’d love to see you with Carla, honestly I can’t imagine it.”

Samuel laughed, he couldn’t either, they had never been out together in public.

“Okay, I’ll talk to her”, he said again.

“Do you want me to bring you a fresh t-shirt and a new pair of boxers?” He asked.

“What would I do without you?” Samuel unironically asked his best friend.

“You’d die surrounded by your own mess.” Omar said laughing. “Okay, I’ll bring you clean clothes, don’t worry.”

“Thank you, dude, I love you.”

“Right back at you.”

"Carla says hi, by the way"

"Oh, that's so sweet of her, tell her I say hi too. Although she kind of terrifies me sometimes" Samuel laughed at his friend, not really understanding the comment, Carla was almost harmless.

They hung up and Samuel took off his shirt and stepped in the shower with Carla. She just smiled.

“How is he?” Samuel took the soap and began massaging her shoulders.

“Who? Omar?” She didn’t really answer, just let out an affirmative sound. “He’s great, back to living with his parents, and still going strong with Ander.”

“I’m glad, if anyone deserves it it’s them.” she said lowering her head so that he’d have better access.

“They are going out for a picnic in Hyde Park and have invited us, if you want to go, we can.” He said bringing his hands to her spine and massaging up and down.  
“Who is they?” She asked, did they whoever they were, really want to see her? They didn’t part in the best of terms.

“Guzmán, Caye, Rebe, and the love birds.” Samuel said as they spun around so that she could return the favour.

“Doesn’t Guzmán hate me?” She asked, honestly worried, they had been so close once, and then Polo had to go and kill his sister, everything was weird and messed up now.

“No, he doesn’t. I think he understands, he’s half forgiven Polo, so he’s 100% forgiven you.”

She laughed. “What do you mean half forgiven?”

“He really wants to” he said with a sigh, he didn’t understand it, to be honest, he didn’t let the guy take up anytime in his mind, but he could never forgive him, then again, he had never been his best friend. “It’s harder than you’d think.”

“We all make mistakes”. Said Carla, rinsing him off.

“Yes, but not all of us murder people.” Carla let it go, knowing it was going nowhere, maybe with time and patience she could make him understand, maybe he never would, but they had their whole lives ahead of them to try to change each other's minds. The thought made her warm inside.

“Let’s go for a picnic” was all she said instead, planting a kiss between his shoulder blades.

“I love you, you know that, right?” He said smiling at her, he loved that they were the same high.

“I’m counting on it.” She said kissing him and wrapped a towel around herself.

He looked at her wondering if he’d ever get used to seeing her like that, he had no idea, but he had a whole life to figure it out, the thought made him smile, so he dried himself off quickly and grabbed Carla by the waist and spun her around lifting her off the floor. They laughed like little kids.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It makes me so sad to come to the end of this journey, but I've decided that I'm gonna start another work about these two and their rendezvous in Paris and Madrid. It's gonna be explicit, but as always, if you have any ideas, feel free to leave them on the comments. 
> 
> As always, thank you all so much for having been on this journey with me, and, please, please, please, please, take care of yourselves, both physically and mentally, I know sometimes is hard, specially these days where we are all in some form of isolation, but if you ever need anything, I'm here for you.

**Author's Note:**

> I've been meaning to write this since before I finished the first part of this series, but the quarantine has been destroying my mental health, which sucks, but I had to take care of myself before sitting down and writing this.   
> I hope you are all keeping yourself as healthy as possible, both physically and mentally. Put your health first and wash your hands.  
> Thank you so much for reading it, I really appreciate the fact that people actually read this, I never though people would.


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